FEMA claws back migrant housing funds, drawing battle with NYC officials

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) clawed back $80 million it gave to New York City to house migrants as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on the program.

City officials, who said they discovered the revocation Wednesday, are threatening legal action as FEMA raises concerns that the grants were possibly funding “illegal activity.”

“I have clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wrote on the social platform X.

“FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer. Mark my words: there will not be a single penny spent that goes against the interest and safety of the American people,” Noem continued.

The new administration, including Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has looked to implement various freezes on federal funding. Musk has singled out the migrant housing grants in particular, writing on X that it "violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order."

The administration's plans to freeze federal funding have quickly drawn legal challenges. A judge blocked an across-the-board pause and later said the Trump administration was failing to comply with the court's order.

But those rulings still enable agencies to limit funding access based on authority from applicable statutes. With that exception, the administration has argued it can pause the FEMA migrant housing grants.

“As of today, the Department has paused funding to the Shelter and Services Program based on significant concerns that the funding is going to entities engaged in or facilitating illegal activities,” Cameron Hamilton, who is performing the duties of FEMA administrator, wrote in a sworn declaration.

The government went as far to ask the judge Tuesday to clarify that pausing the fund would be allowed under his order, but given the government’s rationale, the judge said he “sees no need."

But New York City’s comptroller, Brad Lander, in a statement Wednesday claimed the $80 million revocation was “illegally executed” because Congress already appropriated the funding.

Lander went on to attack New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) for cozying up to Trump. A day earlier, Trump’s Justice Department directed prosecutors to drop Adams’s criminal charges.

“New York City cannot take this lying down,” Lander said. “I call on the Mayor to immediately pursue legal action to ensure the tens of millions of dollars stolen by Trump and DOGE are rightfully returned. If instead Mayor Adams continues to be President Trump’s pawn, my Office will request to work in partnership with the New York City Law Department to pursue aggressive legal action.”

Adams, who has pledged to work with Trump on addressing immigration and other issues impacting New York City, indicated support for getting the funding back.

“While we conduct an internal investigation into how this occurred, our office has already engaged with the White House about recouping these funds and we’ve requested an emergency meeting with FEMA to try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible. The Corporation Counsel is already exploring various litigation options,” Adams wrote on X.

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